Clip container for milk bottles



June 12, 1951 P. PEARSON 2,556,439

CLIP CONTAINER FOR MILK BOTTLES Filed Oct. 14, 194B P. Pearsory aPatented June 1 2, 195i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLIP CONTAINER FORMILK BOTTLES Phillip Pearson, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ApplicationOctober 14, 1948, Serial No. 54,491

Under the present method of milk distribution, the housewife places oneor more empty milk bottles at the door for the attention of the milkmanUsually, She writes a note explaining whether she wishes milk, creametc. and if she requests tickets, money is also included with the note.It is obviousl impractical to place the note and money inside the bottleas it would be extremely difficult for the milkman to get it out and, asthe interior of the bottle might be wet, more difficult would beexperienced. The result is that the housewife usually places the noteand the money under the bottle on the doorstep where the bottle may 'beaccidently knocked over with the result that the wind blows the note andthe money away and it is lost. The weather might change to rain and itwould soak the note and the money and the note would accordingly be hardto read. Further, the money and note is usually visibl under the bottleand offers a temptation for children or others to steal same. This loosemethod often results in argument between the housewife and the milkman,usually caused by one or the other of the above disadvantages. I

I The present invention contemplates an improvement over the abovemethod and the principal object thereof is to provide a container forholding the note and the money and which can be secured to the bottle sothat neither the note or the money can 'be blown away by the wind,exposed to the public, or get Wet during a rain storm.

A further object of the invention is to attach the container to thebottle so that the milkman can pick it up and with a simple movement ofhis fingers slip the note and the mone into the palm of his hand withoutwaste of time.

A further object of the invention is to construct the device so that themilkman can slip the container off the empty bottle and onto the filledbottle being left and place the note and the change back in thecontainer and all this accomplished in the same amount of time as by theold method.

A further object of the invention is to construct the device from adouble stamping of sheet metal so that the cost will be negligible andthe article placed on the market at a ver reasonable price or given awayby the milk companies.

A still further object of the invention is to construct the device witha resiliently closable door to keep out the elements.

With the above important objects in view, which will become moreapparent as the descrip- 1 Claim. (01. 215-401) tion proceeds, theinvention consists essentially in the formation and design of the devicehereinafter more particularly described in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an empty milk bottle with thecontainer attached thereto.

Figure 2 is a fiat layout of the box material ready for forming into thecontainer.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the door.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several figures.

The upper part of an empty milk bottle is shown in Figure 1 andindicated b the numeral I. This milk bottle has an inwardly and upwardlytapering neck 2 which terminates in an en-- larged head 3 which issuitably formed with an inner shoulder 4 for the reception of 'acardboard cap which seals off the contained milk. The invention now tobe described, is attachable to the outer portion of the neck 2, justbelow the enlarged head 3.

In the present instance, the box portion of the invention is formed froma flat piece of thin spring steel which is punched out in the shapeshown in Figure 2. This punching presents a vertical center portion 5having an upper pair of outwardly projecting wings 6 and l and a pair oflower narrower wings 8 and 9,

In forming this box, the upper projecting portion It! is formed into adownward roll as indicated by the dotted outline H in Figure 1. Thecentral portion is then bent on the dotted line l2 so that the portionl3 forms the back of the box and the portion It, enclosed by the dottedlines; forms the bottom of the container. The two wings 8 and 9 havetheir sides l5 and I6 bent upwardly on the vertical dotted lines I! andare then bent bodil on the dotted lines I8 to form the sides of the box.It will be noted that the ends of the wings 8 and 9 are cut at a slant.Finally, the lower portion i8 is bent upward on the dotted line 20 tolay against the sides l5. Accordingly, a rectangular box is formedhaving a sloping open upper end. The upper parts of the sides I6 arethen spot welded to the back portion 5 and the upper part of the portionI9 is spot welded to the sides 15, as shown at 20, to secure the shape.The wings 6 and 1 are then bent backward in an ogee curve, as shown at2| in Figure 1, to present a pair of clips which will spring over theneck 2 of the bottle and support the box therefrom.

Before the various parts are bent in the shape mentioned, the temperwill be taken out of the spring steel so that it will not break in theforming operation. After the box has been assembled as described, thedevice can be heated and tempered so that the clips 6 and 1 will springfreely over the bottle neck and have sufficient resiliency to retain andsupport the box on the bottle.

The door, shown in Figure 3, is formed from a flat piece of metal. Itpresents a rectangularshaped portion 22 having angular-shaped sides 23bent downward. The upper center portion is provided with an extendinglip 24, which forms a finger piece, While on either side of the lip,extending tongues 25 are rolled downward. The door is placed over theupper end of the box with the rolled portion 25 straddling the rolledportion ll of the box. A spring steel pin 26 is passed through all therolled portions to form a hinge between the door and the box. One end ofthe pin is bent back on itself and passes over the top of the wing I, sothat it cannot turn in a clockwise direction at the hinge, and thenpasses under the lip 24 of the door to form a spring for holding thedoor shut. The door can be opened by finger pressure down on theextending lip 24, against the resilient pressure of the extending end ofthe pin 26. When the pressure is relieved the tensioned pin 25 returnsthe door to the sloping position shown in Figure 1.

When in use, the housewife will spring the door open by pressing thecurved upper end of the extending lip 25 and deposit her note with theinstructions and the money in the box. She will then clip the box to themilk bottle and place it in a position for the attention of the milkman.The device is so designed that the milkman can grasp the neck of thebottle and with one of his fingers press the portion 24 to open the doorand let the note and the money slide into the palm of his hand and soleave his other hand free to hold his milk basket. The empty bottle canthen be placed in his basket and, after reading the instructions, hewill remove the clip container from the empty bottle and insert it onthe filled one. While holding it in his hand he can flip the door openwith his finger, return the note and the change and then leave thebottle for the housewife.

From the above it will be seen that I have provided a simple littlecontainer for milk bottles which can be cheaply produced in quantity andat a very low price, that is quickly clipped onto the neck of thebottle, will retain notes and money clear of all dangers of the elementsand out of sight, and which could be quickly transferred from one bottleto another. The container, being on the neck of the bottle, will beclear of the ground so will not leak moisture therein while 4 thesloping door will always shed water if it rains, and even if it isknocked over, the contents will not be lost. Under such an arrangementthere will be no arguments arising between the milkman and his customersover money or instructions.

While I have shown and described the box and clips as made from onepiece of spring steel, it will be understood that the box could be madeseparate from ordinary sheet metal and the clips could be made from apiece of spring steel and secured to the back thereof. This constructionwould require more work to manufacture but would present a saving inspring steel should such be too expensive.

What I claim as my invention is:

An attachable container for a milk bottle, comprising: a single piece ofspring material forked to present a pair of oppositely projecting wingson each side of a central portion; said central portion bent to form theback, bottom and front of a box; two of said oppositely projecting wingsbent to form the sides 'of said box; the other of said oppositelprojecting wings bent away from said box to form spaced inwardly curvedclips for resilient reception over the neck of said bottle and tosupport said box on the side thereof; a door hinged over the open upperend of said box and provided with a lip projecting over said hinge; thepin of said hinge projecting therefrom on one side thereof, bent back onitself to pass over one of said clips and sprung under said lip forresilient door closure pressure thereagainst.

PHILLIP PEARSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 401,760 Sch-er Apr. 23, 1889899,217 Hetherington Sept. 22, 1908 1,034,424 Clark Aug. 6, 19121,039,833 Snyder Oct. 1, 1912 1,101,351 Suit June 23, 1914 1,294,057Davis Feb. 11, 1919 1,342,657 Wolferman June 8, 1920 1,434,483 EckerFeb. 19, 1 924 1 ,783,027 Savino Nov. 25, 1930 2,314,607 Clark Mar. 23,1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 427,333 Great Britain Sept. 5,1934

